Dialogue With An Owl
by Leesa Perrie
Summary: Set after Common Ground. Rodney is busy working in his lab when John wanders in.


**Dialogue With An Owl**

**By Leesa Perrie**

_Written for LiveJournal's sga_genficathon for the prompt 'Forced Vacation'. _

_Set after Common Ground. Bad pun alert!_

It was less than two days since they'd rescued Sheppard from Kolya. A rejuvenated Sheppard - thanks to a Wraith, of all things. Rodney couldn't fathom what had possessed Sheppard to make an alliance - no matter how uneasy - with one of them. Well, no, actually, that wasn't true. Desperate times, desperate measures and all that. Plus, it wasn't like Sheppard had had much to lose. But still - a _Wraith_.

Seeing the life being sucked out of Sheppard and being unable to do anything about it had given Rodney nightmares, which was why he was up working in the early hours of the Atlantis morning. He was probably scarred for life, unable to ever properly sleep again.

Shaking his head, Rodney returned to programming his power simulations, only to be disturbed a few moments later by the very man himself - Sheppard. With a damned smirk on his face, which never failed to make Rodney's stomach drop. A smirking Sheppard in his vicinity was rarely a good thing.

Though he supposed he should be grateful to have a smirking Sheppard around, considering recent events.

"Hey," Sheppard said.

"Hey," Rodney replied warily.

"You know, maybe we should call you Owl…"

Huh? Where had that come from, and what was it supposed to mean? Other than that Sheppard had cracked. Not surprising really, a man had his limits after all, and being fed on by a Wraith, escaping with said Wraith and having your life returned was enough to break anyone, in his not-so-humble opinion.

"Yeah, I definitely think Owl would be a good name," Sheppard continued, clearly wanting some sort of response from him. Well, best to humour the crazy man, right?

"Why would you call me Owl? Oh," Rodney said, inspiration hitting him. "Of course, I get it now. It's because they're associated with wisdom and you're trying to find a weird way of expressing your appreciation for my genius level intellect…"

"Nah," Sheppard interrupted him, the smirk turning into a wicked grin, "It's because I hear you're a real _mouse killer_."

"A mouser killer? What…? Oh," Rodney turned red, the incident at the Genii warehouse coming back to him in detail. "Oh, ha, ha, who told you about that?" he snapped after a moment's pause, not sure whether to be more relieved that Sheppard hadn't cracked or more annoyed at the truly terrible joke Sheppard has cracked at his expense.

"Ronon."

"Rat bastard," he muttered, ignoring John's amused snort. Oh, right, rat. Not the best term he could have used. Damn it.

"I'll tell him you said that," Sheppard said. "I'm sure he'd be amused - not."

"Oh crap, you want him to murder me, don't you?"

"Don't worry. I'm sure he'd make it quick."

"Oh thanks. Thanks a lot. Nice to know you care, Colonel," Rodney said, sarcasm dripping off his tongue. Sheppard merely grinned back at him, unrepentant. Really, the man was past infuriating today - all of this for some stupidly pathetic joke. Maybe he had cracked after all?

"You know he'd never hurt you, right?" Sheppard said, his tone of voice changing to something more serious.

"Right." He knew that. Or at least, he knew that most of the time - there were a few occasions when he wasn't quite so sure.

"So, what are you doing?" Sheppard asked, moving closer so that he could peer over Rodney's shoulder.

"Would you not do that," Rodney snapped, leaning away from him. "I _was _working on some power simulations before you felt the need to interrupt me with your inane wit."

"I thought it was funny. So did Teyla and Ronon last night. Well, Teyla rolled her eyes, but her mouth was smiling, I swear."

"Yeah, yeah, you just keep kidding yourself about that. Now, if you don't mind, I have vitally important work to do."

"Well, Elizabeth suggested a short vacation with the Athosians on the mainland. Teyla's coming, of course, and Ronon. We're leaving in an hour."

"Have fun," Rodney said, turning back to his laptop and trying not to feel left out. It wasn't like staying with the Athosians was his idea of fun. Okay, the village wasn't as basic as some they had visited, but it was still too much like camping in the wilderness for his liking. Nope, he liked his technological comforts - heating, lighting, hot showers.

"So," Sheppard drawled, causing Rodney to turn back to him. Sheppard rubbed his neck, not meeting his eyes. "I thought you might want to join us - if you're not too busy with your vitally important work, of course."

"Oh." Rodney said in surprise. He supposed he shouldn't really be surprised, but being asked to join them still felt novel to him, even after three years of being on a team. Looking at Sheppard, he sighed. Those puppy dog's eyes really shouldn't be seen on any grown man, let alone the military commander of Atlantis. Against that look he had no armour, though he'd knew he have to find a way, one day. He nodded, like there had been any real doubt of his answer. "Fine. An hour?"

"Yes."

"And you couldn't have given me more warning?" Rodney said with a huff of irritation.

"Where'd be the fun in that?" Sheppard said, eyes twinkling.

Rodney rolled his eyes at that and picked up his laptop.

"I'm bringing this with me," he said in no uncertain tones.

Now it was Sheppard's turn to roll his eyes.

"If you must."

"I must. Now, out of my way, I have a lot to organise if I'm going to be away for a few days, and that's before I do any packing…"

"An hour, Rodney, or else we'll leave without you," Sheppard warned, as he turned to leave with Rodney following after him.

"Right," Rodney said unbelievingly. He knew they wouldn't leave without him, despite Sheppard's threats. He knew it as much as he'd known he would go to the Athosian camp as soon as he'd been asked. It was what a team did, even if he sometimes forgot that it went both ways.

Smiling for the first time in several days, he headed to his quarters to pack, making sure to put in extra sunscreen and bug repellent. He wouldn't be late - well, maybe just a few minutes. He decided he would brief Radek over the radio during the journey to the mainland, figuring that would be a lot quicker than doing it in person.

Besides, he could listen to the Czech cursing just as well from the jumper, couldn't he?

The End


End file.
